Metal awning



June 17, 1958 J. GUTTMAN METAL AWNING Filed Nov. 12, 1954 INVENTOR. /A 135 ELITTMAN United States Patent O METAL AWNING Jacob Guttrnan, Pittsburgh, Pa. I Application November 12, 1954, Serial No. 468,346

2 Claims. (Cl. 20-57.5)

: This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a metal awning, for example, an aluminum awning,

but is also applicable to awnings made of other materials,

such as reinforced plastic material.

Metal awnings have recently come into widespread use. However, they have certain outstanding disadvantages, such as the complicated fastening means including clips, screws or bolts for securing together the top and bottom flanged plans forming the awning. Another disadvantage has been that the fastening means are generally of lIlSUfilcient strength to resist strong winds or storms of tornadolike proportion which occur perhaps a few times during the year and which often times rupture the fastening means and dislodge the pans forming the awning. This, of course, requires expensive repairs and replacement of parts.

A stillfurther disadvantage of known types of metal awnings is that the top and bottom pans are sometimes held closely in engagement thus preventing transverse flow of air therethrough which otherwise would greatly assist in preventing trapped air under the awning and aid ventilation.

A still further disadvantage of all known types of metal awnings is that they are relatively complicated in construction and time consuming and expensive to assemble or manufacture.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel metal awning which is devoid of the above named disadvantages of awnings of conventional construction and which involves integral fastening means which eliminate the necessity of separate clips or other common types of fastening means.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improvement metal awning comprising top and bottom pans which are held in spaced relationship by very simple means to permit transverse flow of air for effectively ventilating the awning.

A still further'object of the invention is to provide an exceedingly strong awning which will resist very strong winds even those of torando-like proportion.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a metal awning embodying the principles of my invention and having top and front portions cut away to more clearly illustrate the integral fastening means for the top and bottom pans;

Figure 2 is an enlarged, transverse, cross-sectional view taken alongline 2-2 of Figure 1; r

Figure 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the cross member taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse cross-sectional view taken :along line 44 of Figure l; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view of the cross member and a top pan shown in Figures 1 and 2. p

Referring more particularly to Figure 1 of the drawing, the framework is of sheet metal and comprises hori- 2,833,811 Patented June 17, 1958 zontally extending reinforcing strips 1 and angularly extending reinforcing strips 2, both of which strips are of preferably flanged, step shaped, cross-section. Metal louvers 3 are fastened to these strips by rivets or other suitable fastening means to form the sides of the awning. The edges of the louvers are angularly disposed in spaced parallel relationship to allow air to flow therethrough without admitting rain. A rear, cross bracing strip 5 extends across the rear of the awning and is secured to the 1gear end portions of strips 1 to reinforce the framewor A bailing runner or cross member 6 forms a cross brace for the top portion of the awning framework and is of channel cross section simulating that of a hat as shown more clearly in Figures 3 and 5. The bottom portions of cross member 6 are rigidly secured by means of screws, rivets or other fastening means to the angularly extending reinforcing strips 2 of the framework.

Struck upwardly from the top portion of the cross memher 6, as shown more clearly in Figures3 and 5, are tabs or strips 7 which are bent so as to extend vertically upwardly, then horizontally and finally vertically downwardly to provide a very simple and exceedingly strong fastening means for holding the members together forming the top and front of the awning.

These tabs are preferably at least 1% inches long and about /z inch in width so as to be enabled to wrap around the side flanges of the bottom pans or plates 9 which are in the form of panels or channels of sheet metal such as aluminum, with upstanding side flanges 9a. The tabs are struck out from the top portion of cross member 6 in adjoining pairs, as shown in Figures 2 and 5, emerging vertically upwardly, then curving in opposite horizontal directions, so as to wrap around side flanges 9a of the bottom pans, and finally extending vertically downwardly so that their ends form stop members which engage the inturned edges of the side flanges 10a of the top pans or plates 10. The spacing between pairs of tabs may be of the order of 10 inches or of other suitable dimension.

The tabs, after being cut out from the top portion of the cross member 6 are first extended vertically upwardly throughout their entire length so as to serve as guides for the placement of the bottom pans 9 which have spacings corresponding to those of the alternating, staggered top pans. After the bottom pans have been arranged in place to form a part of the awning, the tabs are bent over the top of flanges 9a of the bottom pans so that their terminal portions extend in a substantially downward direction, that is, toward the cross member or runner 6, but at a slight angle with respect to the vertical portion. The top pans 10 have side flanges 10a with inwardly turned end portions to form a stop surface which engages the ends of the above mentioned tabs. In installation, after the tabs have been bent over the side flanges 9aof the lower pans, the top pans are pushed and snapped into place by virtue of the fact that the end portions of the tabs are first engaged by the inwardly turned edges of the top pans 10 so as to yieldably move the tabs inwardly to a more nearly vertical position. However, after a predetermined downward movement of the top pans, the inwardly turned ends of the side flanges 10a of the top pans will clear the ends of the tabs, whereupon the tabs are freed and allowed to spring apart to assume their original angular position whereby the ends of the tabs act as stops for limiting upward movement of the top pans 10 and thus form a very secure lock which prevents loosening of the top pans even under Very severe wind conditions. The tabs thus form a permanent lock which makes it impossible to remove the top pans unless they are slid lengthwise with respect to the lower pans or unless their side flanges are 7 forcefully pulled apart.

valence runner or cross member 11 which extends across the forward portion of the framework. The valence runner 11 is also provided with tabs 11a which are struck out of the front flange thereof as shown in Figure 4.

These clips are adapted to wrap around the tops of the side flanges of the bottom pans and engage the inwardly turned edges of the flanges of the top pans, so that after the top pans have been pushed into place, the end portions of the tabs will spring outwardly to serve as stop elements for @such inwardly turned edges. Thus not only the top but also the front portion of the awning are rigidly held to runners so as to securely fasten them to the framework. Of course additional cross members may extend across the top in parallel relationship to cross member 6 and of similar construction, particularly for large awnings.

An outstanding feature of this construction is that the tabs not only form secure locking elements for interlocking the top and bottom pans together, but their bent portions which encircle the flanges of the bottom pans form spacer elements for spacing the lower surface of the top pans from the tops of the inturned edges of the flanges of the bottom pans so as to permit air to .circulate from the inside of the awning to the outside. More,- over, there is also a spacing provided between the flanges of the top and bottom pans so that a column of air may flow therebetween to provide a chimney effect, that is, to allow air to move upwardly from the bottom of the awning to the top where it is diverted laterally by the flashing 13 and escapes. While the idea of arranging the top and bottom pans in alternate, staggered parallel relationship and in providing a space therebetween to permit transverse circulation of air is known in the art, the present very simple, integral fastening means for holding the pans in this relationship and for providing amazingly greater strength is an outstanding improvement in the art.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efficient metal. awning, or one of other rigid materials, such as fiberglass reinforced plastic, which awning is provided with simple and inexpensive integral means for effectively locking the top and bottom pans together without the necessity of providing separate clips, screws or other fastening means and at the same time providing an :air space therebetween to allow air to circulate laterally along a sinus path, also to permit air to circulate upwardly in a column between flanged portions of the upper and lower pans to provide a chimney effect and thus prevent the entrapment of hot air in or underneath the awning, thereby greatly increasing the ventilating efiiciency of the awning as well as providing amazingly greater strength so as to enable the awning to withstand high velocity winds and storms of a violent nature without danger of separation of the pans forming the awning cover; furthermore I have provided a strong framework including a cross member of channel, hat-like cross section which greatly reinforces the framework.

While I have illustrated and described a certain specific embodiment of my invention, it will be .apparent that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may bernade within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A rigid awning, comprising a framework including a transversely extending runner, a plurality of alternately spaced and reversely disposed top and bottom pans of 3 channel shape extending at right angles to said runner and being directly supported thereby, said top and bottom pans having side flanges extending at right angles therefrom and with relatively narrow inturned edges, a plurality of elongated tabs struck out from the metal forming the top portions of said runner, said tabs extending parallel to and closely adjacent the outer surfaces of the side flanges of said bottom pans and being bent over the tops of said last mentioned flanges and having end portions extending substantially vertically downwardly over and in contact with the narrow edges of said bottom .pans and substantially in contact with the side flanges of the said bottom pans and within the top pans, parallel to and closely adjacent the side flanges of the top pans throughout the entire height thereof, the inturned edges of the top pans being engaged by the ends of said tabs to serve as stop members for preventing upward movement of said top pans, said tabs spacing the webs of the top pans from tops of the side flanges of the bottom pans substantially the thickness of said tabs to permit limited flow of air laterally between the top and bottom pans and for spacing the inturned edges of the top pans from the webs of the bottom .pans by an equal distance to permit outward flow of such air, whereby said tabs provide a positive interlock between said top and bottom pans.

2. A rigid awning, comprising a framework including a transversely extending sheet metal runner in the form of an inverted channel having upturned end flanges so as to provide a substantially sinuous cross section, a plurality of alternately spaced and reversely disposed top and bottom pans of channel shape extending at right angles to said runner and being directly supported there by, said top and bottom pans having side flanges extending at right angles therefrom and with relatively narrow inturned edges, a plurality of elongated tabs struck out from the metal forming the top portions of said runner, said tabs extending parallel to and closely adjacent the outer surfaces of the side flanges of said bottom pans and being bent over the tops of said last mentioned flanges substantially vertically having end portions extending substantially vertically downwardly over and in contact with the narrow edges of said bottom pans and substantially in contact with the side flanges of the said bottom pans and within the top pans, parallel to and closely adjacent the side flanges of the top pans throughout the entire height thereof, the inturned edges of the top pans being engaged by the extremities of said tabs to serve as stop members for preventing upward movement of said top pans, said tabs spacing the webs of the top pans from the tops of the side flanges of the bottom pans substantially the thickness of said tabs to permit limited flow of air laterally between the top and bottom pans and for spacing the inturned edges of the top pans from the webs of the bottom pans by an equal distance to permit outward flow of such .air, whereby said tabs provide a positive interlock between said top and bottom pans.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,619,691 Bottom Dec. 2, 1952 2,682,689 Helt July 6, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 154,158 Australia Nov. 16, 1953 

